


Poppy’s Dialogues

by LC_Rod



Category: Trolls (2016)
Genre: Confrontation, Dialogue, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 07:16:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24689758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LC_Rod/pseuds/LC_Rod
Summary: One-shots of Poppy having insightful conversations with her friends, that don’t take place in a particular continuity or storyline.In an alternate scene, Poppy witnesses Cooper’s self-doubt over being a “different” troll, and thinks he’s going into self-exile. What’s so good about “differences” if they made her friend feel like an outcast?
Comments: 3
Kudos: 16





	Poppy’s Dialogues

“Cooper?”

Poppy watched Cooper let out a yelp and turn around at the sound of her voice. He let out his usual friendly laugh and dopey grin, but something felt off. 

“Oh hey, Poppy!” he greeted happily, but his voice cracked.

Poppy tilted her head. “What’s been on your mind lately?” she asked him. Poppy had earlier been informed of the history of the strings, and currently Branch and her dad were going through extreme lengths to hide. She remembered watching them leave, unsure what to think of it until the afternoon.

Cooper spent an unusual amount of time before uttering a small laugh, twiddling his feet. “Oh, you know, huh…” his laughing appeared more nervous, “crazy stuff happened this morning, huh? Bats, invitations, different trolls…” by this point, Cooper lost any mirth in his grin. “No big deal!”

Poppy pointed to Cooper’s garment. “What’s with the cape?” She questioned. 

“Oh!” Cooper seemingly just noticed he wore his hood. “I-It… got cold, that’s it!” Cooper was anxious outright. 

Poppy then leaned sideways, crooning her head past Cooper’s own neck. She noticed he was looking at a page of the historical scrapbook, the one showing a line of the so-called different trolls. “Were you reading the history?”

Cooper bit his lip and darted his eyes. “Y-yeah…” he fessed up, and his expression softened. “We were talkin’ about all these different trolls, and I got to thinking… _I_ look different!” he expressed excitedly. Poppy widened her eyes. “And here’s a troll who looks like me!” He pointed to the scrapbook page, at the purple, long-necked troll. “So I’m thinkin’, what if there’s more like me out there? So I wanna go out and find them, y-y’know…?” He trailed off, noticing Poppy wasn’t sharing his excitement.

“Going out?” Poppy questioned. “You mean like… _leaving_ the village?”

Cooper stayed silent and awkward for a few moments. “I mean…” he dragged his feet across the ground. “I just wanna know if there’s more trolls that look like me,” he mumbled.

Poppy furrowed her brows. “What… what’s wrong with not looking like the rest of us?”

Cooper winced, and his ears dropped. He darted his eyes away from Poppy, looking westward. “N-nothing’s wrong, it…” his head started to drop slightly.

“Is this about all the panic?” Poppy questioned more alarmingly. “Did someone make you feel bad?” she nearly yelled, looking ready to have a stern talk to whoever dared make Cooper feel self-conscious.

“No! I just…” Before either of them knew it, Cooper stood a fair distance away from Poppy. Her stomach dropped. “I don’t feel like I belong.” Cooper’s tone was uncharacteristically flat. Poppy stood there shocked.

Cooper shrunk down, looking at Poppy with a subtle, ‘puppy-eyed’ expression. “I always thought I looked weird, c-compared to everyone here. Now all this stuff about different trolls… made me realize I’m not from here?” He struggled to find the words. “So I gotta know if I’m not the only one. T-that there’s more trolls like me and I’m not alone.”

Poppy stared in complete shock. Cooper gulped and shrunk down more. He began to turn away and walk further. Poppy desperately moved after him, the forest now appearing darker around them.

“But it never mattered what you looked like to me!” She called out to him. “You’re still my friend, and I never treated you any different! You’re not alone! I’m sorry we ever made you feel like you didn’t belong here!” Poppy cried out.

Cooper turned around, looking at Poppy like she was a stranger, but at the same time, with personal shame. “We are friends!” he reassured shakingly. “You guys didn’t do anything bad! We played together, we did awesome things! I love all our friends and we were all happy!”

He smiled, but it soon faded. “But you heard what Peppy said. We’re different. That scrapbook is proof. And all the hug times and games ain’t gonna change the way I look!” he blurted out in an unusually negative manner, causing Poppy to be taken aback. Cooper caught himself. “I want some answers,” he stated bluntly, “I wanna see if they’re out there.”

Poppy straightened up. “You’re still one of us,” she reaffirmed gently. “No matter how you look. You don’t have to go.” She pleaded, trying not to sound desperate as she offered her arms out for a comforting hug. Poppy was instead met with silence.

Cooper moved even further away. “I gotta find them.” He darted around nervously. “… Sorry,” he apologized sincerely. “You’re a good friend, but… I gotta face the truth.” Cooper was seemingly frozen in his spot, torn between moving forward and running to his friend’s arms. Cooper shook his head, wiggling to put his hood on. Poppy‘s arms slowly lowered. “I’ll come back!” He blurted out, before abruptly dashing towards the unknown without looking back.

Poppy stood frozen in shocked despair. Just like that, Cooper just severed his ties. Poppy breathed deep, even as she heard her friend’s awkward yelps echoing across the forest. _I’ll come back_ , that’s all he had to say? No goodbye hug, even? Poppy looked almost ready to cry by the time the seeming finality sank in, and she had to turn back.

“Did he think…” she choked out quietly, “he was a stranger? He… just left everything. All because… he was different.” Poppy looked ahead in fear. “What if he’s _not_ coming back? What if he’s gonna live separated like all those other trolls?” She rambled to herself, almost looking ready to burst out in tears.

Poppy took a deep breath. “That’s not fair!” She stomped her foot. “What’s so important about differences if they drive friends away? Cooper was one of us! We didn’t care that he was different!” She kicked the ground. “But now with all the freaking out over differences, he thinks he’s not one of us anymore, even though we all _liked_ him and he was our _friend_. It didn’t matter!”

She scowled grimly and balled her fists. “Differences don’t matter. We’re all the same.” 


End file.
